The Appalachian, The Peel and AppTV took home 22 national awards, including top honors at this year’s fall college journalism convention in Kansas City.
Six students from The Appalachian and The Peel traveled to the joint College Media Association and Associated Collegiate Press convention last week, participating in three days of professional development and networking.
In a huge milestone for App State's student media, The Appalachian and The Peel both took home prestigious Pacemaker Awards, widely considered to be the "Pulitzer Prize” of student journalism. This distinguishes both outlets as among the best college publications in the nation, a truly incredible achievement.
What makes this all the more impressive is The Appalachian’s Pacemaker was in the feature magazine category for Best of Boone, which is the organization’s first-ever magazine. The Appalachian’s leadership decided to pivot to magazine format for the annual Reader’s Choice issue after the sudden closure of their printer in February.
Other notable prizes include The Peel winning 1st Place in the Best of Show contest, recognizing it as the single best literary arts magazine at the conference, which hosted schools from across the nation and had more than 1,000 attendees. The Appalachian was recognized as the 5th Place Best of Show for newspapers, and AppTV took home several Pinnacle Awards in entertainment and sports broadcasting categories.
The Appalachian:
2026 Pacemaker, Feature Magazine category for Best of Boone
3rd Place Pinnacle Award, Feature Magazine of the Year
3rd Place Pinnacle Award, Newspaper Spread: Staff
3rd Place ACP Awards, Local Climate Change Reporting: Colin Wishneski
3rd Place Pinnacle Award, Portrait Photography: Noah Williford
4th Place ACP Awards, Editorial Cartoon: Melissa Grobleski
5th Place ACP Best of Show, Newspaper/News Magazine
5th Place ACP Best of Show, Sports Photo: Ava Anzalone
6th Place ACP Best of Show, Advertisement: Staff
Honorable Mention Pinnacle Award, Rate Card/Media Kit: Staff
Honorable Mention Pinnacle Award, Ad Campaign, Staff
Honorable Mention Pinnacle Award, Magazine Cover: Rian Hughes
Honorable Mention Pinnacle Award, Campus Media Engagement: Staff
Honorable Mention ACP Awards, Design of the Year: Staff
The Peel
2026 Pacemaker, Literary Arts Magazine
1st Place ACP Best of Show, Literary Arts Magazine
2nd Place Pinnacle Award, Literary Magazine of the Year
3rd Place Pinnacle Award, Literary Magazine Spread: Heide Emmanuel
Honorable Mention Pinnacle Award, Literary Magazine Cover: Staff
AppTV
1st Place, Video Entertainment Program: Elkstone 333 Crew, Finn Barksdale, Michael Lindley
1st Place, Sports Feature: Dylan Shepherd, Grace Ellen Callahan
3rd place, Audio/Video Live Sportscast: Grace Ellen Callahan, Dylan Shepherd, Izzy Rains
Members of The Appalachian and The Peel pose with their award certificates
